The Department of Agriculture (DA) through the National Food Authority (NFA) has started unloading 35,000 bags of well-milled rice in Cebu in preparation for their sale to vulnerable sectors at P20 per kilo.
In a statement on Tuesday, the NFA said it started unloading rice shipments from Mindoro on Monday, preparatory to the pilot-test in the Visayas of the P20/kg subsidized rice program.
NFA Administrator Larry Lacson said the shipments were part of the 600,000 bags of subsidized rice ordered by Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia for the province and expected to be all delivered to Cebu by June.
Lacson said that Cebu, Bohol, Siquijor and Southern Leyte have agreed to join the subsidized rice pilot test, with an initial combined order of 673,000 fifty-kilogram bags. The pilot test will run until December 2025 to collect data needed to fine-tune, expand and extend the program, Lacson said.
The NFA said Siquijor took 40,000 bags; Southern Leyte, 30,000 bags; and Bohol, 3,000 bags.
The DA is implementing the P20/kg subsidized rice program through its attached agencies such as the NFA and the Food Terminal Inc. (FTI), in partnership with participating local government units (LGUs), which are co-subsidizing the P20/kg rice.
Under the arrangements set by the DA and NFA, the FTI and the LGU will split the P13/kg subsidy to bring the retail price of rice down to P20/kg. The milled rice used in the pilot came from the palay stocks previously purchased by the NFA from local farmers.
Vulnerable groups, including solo parents, persons with disabilities, senior citizens, and beneficiaries of the government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino program will have access to the P20/kg rice at Kadiwa centers.
Each qualified household can purchase as much as 30 kilograms per month.
The P20/kg program got a P4.5-billion allocation from President Ferdinand Marcos’ contingency fund to support the pilot test, which is set to run until December 2025.
Currently, the program is being piloted in the Visayas region, Kadiwa rolling stores in cities in Luzon, 11 other participating LGUs in other parts of the country, and selected National Housing Authority resettlement sites that have participated in the government’s national food security emergency response.
The DA said the P20/kg rice has been made available in 12 Kadiwa rolling stores within Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Mindoro, and Rizal, and the 12 will increase to 32 by May 15.
